Science and Technology
Industry Council and CASL Project are Engaged to Investigate Workflow Processes to Ensure Value and Usability of CASL Results
John Gaertner, Chairman, CASL Industry Council
January 3, 2012
Background
The CASL Workflow Project is a joint activity between members of the CASL Industry Council (IC) and the Advanced Modeling Applications (AMA) and Virtual Reactor Integration (VRI) focus areas. The project originated at a Fall 2011 IC Meeting during a presentation of CASL VERA (Virtual Reactor Simulator Software). Several IC members suggested that the CASL staff review workflow processes in depth at IC member facilities.
For CASL, a “workflow” is a sequence of connected steps - with each step being one or more design, analysis, or R&D activity or decision - performed by an engineering team for a specific analysis process or procedure. The figure below is an example workflow for a typical CIPS (corrosion induced power shift) risk analysis performed during core loading pattern development.
BOA – EPRI code to analyze CIPS.
T/H – Thermal-hydraulics code.
CRUD – Boron or other deposits on fuel rods which induce CIPS.
Purpose
The CASL Workflow Project investigates details of the analysis process used for PWR fuel reload and risk analysis, new fuel design, safety analysis, and other business and research applications. The purpose is to educate CASL staff on real issues, constraints, and opportunities where CASL and VERA can make a significant contribution. With this thorough grounding in current industry processes, CASL work can not only support these workflows, but it can add new capability that can complement and enhance current analyses.
The Workflow Project is an activity ideally suited for the CASL Industry Council (IC). The IC provides critical two-way communications and information exchange between the CASL Project and eventual technology-providers and users of CASL products. The CASL Project benefits from expertise and practical experience available through IC members. Members benefit by influencing CASL products and activities to be compatible with expected applications, and they can prepare their business and technical processes to make early use of products.
Goals
The Workflow Project consists of focused meetings between CASL staff and expert analysts at IC member sites.
- The IC Member and the CASL staff agree on an analysis of interest; for example, CIPS, CILC, GRTF, or safety analysis in support of reload design.
- The IC member and the CASL staff identify appropriate experts for the chosen scope. The IC Member receives an advance set of questions to be answered during the facilitated meeting discussion. The questions specifically address the timing and sequence of activities, resource requirements -- people, computers, and facilities, codes employed, data management, treatment of uncertainty, quality control issues, critical path elements, critical cost elements, best opportunities for CASL to affect the process, and constraints that could limit or prevent CASL from affecting the process.